In the Moment
by tfloosh
Summary: One look at a Silent Princess and that was all it took. Link remembered her. He remembered Princess Zelda.


It was an innate sense of duty that sent Link towards Kakariko Village as the spirit of King Rhoam instructed him. Link still didn't personally remember the events the King had spoken of. Honestly Link would have laughed at the King's spirit if he didn't think it would have seemed disrespectful. There was no way Link could be a great knight in service to a princess, a champion set to fight against Calamity Ganon.

But there was a deep sense of rightness with hearing those words, 'appointed knight.' Somehow he knew that this label was his, just like how he knew how to wield different swords, axes, and spears despite his amnesia.

However, he didn't remember Princess Zelda. Impa had sent him to Hateno Village to fix the Sheikah Slate and had told him what the pictures the Princess had left meant when he returned to Kakariko. Yet, he still did not remember the Princess. He did not seek out the places in the pictures, instead deciding to search for shrines and grow stronger. He knew he used to be stronger than he was now, and that was a problem he could easily fix. This void of memories, that was a more complicated.

The pictures drifted to the back of his mind until he returned to Kakariko one day as a pit stop before going and tackling Vah Ruta. He was stocking up on arrows when Paya ambushed him.

"I don't normally do this, but," she looked everywhere but his face. "Grandmother was wondering when you would come see her. She's anxious to see how you've come with collecting your memories."

"I, uh," Link didn't know what to say. He had been putting off the memory search, always finding an excuse to not go to the places in the pictures on his Sheikah Slate.

"I've just been really busy," he finally offered half-heartedly. "There are more important things, and I would like to focus on stopping Calamity Ganon for good."

Paya giggled, "That's what Grandmother thought you would say. So I've been ordered to send you to search out at least one picture." Paya grabbed his hand, much to Link's surprise. "This is good timing, too. Pikango is in town, and he's been all over Hyrule. He could probably tell you where some of the pictures were taken."

So Link was forced to awkwardly ask Pikango to inspect his Sheikah Slate gallery with Paya standing hawk-ishly at his side. After some forced small talk about adventuring across Hyrule, Pikango labeled one of the pictures as the east gate to the Lanayru Promenade.

"That's not too far from here," Paya smiled. "You could go there and back before dinner."

"But I was planning on leaving-"

"Chop, chop," she pushed him up the road to the hill that lead to the Ta'loh Naeg Shrine. "You just have to go up the hill, past the Great Fairy Fountain, and down to the Lanayru Great Road. Take a right like you're going to Mount Lanayru, which you technically are, and you can't miss it."

Link didn't know what to say as he was unceremoniously forced to go hunt down this memory. He had no idea meek and stuttering Paya could be this forceful. Maybe there was more of her grandmother in her than he originally thought. He pulled his Slate out with a huff and tried to trace out the path Paya had hurriedly mapped out for him.

"What Great Fairy Fountain?" he muttered. Link had never gone further up the mountain than the shrine. He was going to kick himself if he missed out on meeting a Great Fairy early in his quest. Just in case, Link fished his wallet out of his bag and counted up the rupees he had.

After taking a wrong turn and finding a very suspicious pedestal that must activate a shrine somehow, Link ended up forking over most of his money to revitalize the Great Fairy Cotera's Fountain. He upgraded some of his gear and asked her for directions to the Promenade.

"It's just down that path, there," she pointed to the north. "First right you can take in the mountains. If you hit a sloping plane leading down to the old Gopongo Village, you've gone too far."

"Thank you," Link departed with a wave. He started down the path, noticing the sun falling behind the mountains. He had spent more time with Cotera than he thought. He would have to hurry if he didn't want to get ambushed by monsters on the way. Link looked down at his Slate to try and find the turn in the mountains Cotera mentioned. But something glowing on the ground caught his eye.

He knelt down to see a flower. A small white flower with shocks of blue in the petals. It looked extremely delicate standing under a tree all alone. He reached out to pick it, wondering if it had any special properties like some of the other plants he found did, but he stopped as his finger grazed the edge of the petal.

 _This one here is called the Silent Princess._

Link reeled back, looking around wildly for whoever had spoken. But there was no one around him. He looked back at the flower suspiciously and leaned closer to touch it again.

 _The princess can only thrive out here in the wild._

Link gasped out loud. He knew whose voice that was. It was the same one he had awoken to, the same one that guided him across the Great Plateau, the voice of Princess Zelda.

Then it all came rushing back to him. Wave after wave of memory washed over him until he had to sit against the trunk of a nearby tree with his head between his knees.

He remembered it all. Growing up under the diligent training of his father, a knight of the Royal Guard. Going to the Zora's Domain and playing with friends and meeting Princess Mipha. Training against soldiers ten years his senior and beating them, earning the interest of the King himself. Pulling the sword that seals the darkness from its long place of rest in the old Temple of Time. Being appointed the Hylian Champion and Princess Zelda's personal knight.

And the Princess, oh how he remembered her. The yelling, the fighting, that one screaming match before the Yiga attacked her at Kara Kara Bazaar. Then the closeness, the friendship, the trust.

The love.

Link raised his head, suddenly noticing the tears running down his cheeks.

He loved her. He had been in love with Princess Zelda. Up until his almost dying breath, he had wanted to tell her, but his mouth wouldn't open, and his hand was too heavy to reach for her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into the growing night. "I couldn't protect you in the end." He looked back at the Silent Princess. "But I will be there to save you. I promise."

He stood, shakily, and headed back down the mountain path to Kakariko Village. Maybe he would book at a bed at the inn and get a nice rest before tacking Vah Ruta in the morning. After all, he had a Princess to save.


End file.
